Some Family Photos

Richard Rockwell/ Dad

Dad was a handsome man. He attended Kingswood School in West Hartford, CT. The family attended Asylum Hill Congregational Church. Mom and Dad were married there on September 14th, 1957. Dad had attended Washington and Lee for undergraduate and Yale Law School. He worked as a Real Estate Attorney at Day, Berry and Howard in Hartford, CT for his entire career.

Rick, Janet, Linda and Jeff
Weekapaug, RI approximately 1992

Mom rented a house at Weekapaug for several summers and we all loved to gather at the beach. This particular year was really special because Jeff and his wife, Annie, had added the fourth grandchild - Will - to the family the previous summer. It was a good excuse to take a few family photographs, for which she hired a real photographer. This is a picture of Mom with her three kids (we didn't know about the fourth or first kid at this point.)

Janet and Rick - 25th Anniversary
9 Thicket Lane, West Hartford,  CT

Mom and dad didn't know that we'd planned a party for their 25th anniversary at their house in Sunset Farm in West Hartford. My Aunt Judy (Janet's younger sister) and I had driven from New York City to West Hartford to get everything ready. It was a fun party and I think mom and dad were duly celebrated. (Interesting note, this photo was taken at the party and they look so happy. What we didn't know is that Dad wasn't very happy and he moved out the following November. He bought himself a house and moved right after Thanksgiving. He died the following March.)

Linda - 1 year

Linda - Brownie Girl Scout
440 Deercliff Road, Avon, CT

Linda - 1961?
3 years old?

Jeff and Sam
Avon, CT

Sam was Dad's first child. Dad loved that dog! If you look closely, Sam had a bell on his collar - that's because (according to stories that I heard) Dad refused to have Sam neutered and, as male dogs do, Sam was a horrible wanderer. Thus the bell ... so we could hear him! Jeff loved dogs (and cats and other animals) from the time he was a little, little kid. I am guessing that he's about 6 or 7 here. This is at the house on Deercliff Road. We had such wonderful snowy winters there! Dad had a snow blower that he used to clear the snow off our very long driveway which was totally up hill from the house to the street. Dad would be out first thing on snowy mornings clearing the driveway so he could get out and go to work. He would come into the house covered in snow - despite being able to direct the snow blower to blow the snow just about anywhere, Dad always seemed to be in it's way.

Linda and Rick
Avon, CT 1961?

Linda, Jeff and Ricky
1963 or 1964

 Ya know, my mother always complained about how I had my girls' hair cut - and maybe it's because she did such a bad job of having mine cut! Look at the awful short bangs!

Janet Ann Barnard Rockwell/Mom

 I have no idea when this photo was taken but perhaps it was after Mom graduated from high school. Or when she got engaged to Dad. I have no way of knowing any more. Mom lived in Manchester, CT. Her mother and father were hard-working Irish immigrants. Gram (Mom's mother) was a single mother of two girls - Mom and Judy - after her husband died in a tragic accident caused by a heart attack ... or that's what we were told. Grandfather Jack was a milk man when he died. He was also a raging alcoholic. Mom used to be sent on her bike to get Grandfather Jack out of the bars to come home for dinner. He died when Judy was 4 and mom was 14. Mom had to help take care of Judy and Gram worked at the Aetna Insurance Company as a secretary. It seems to me that she worked for the President of the company. I remember going down to her office a couple of times. She would get all dolled up for work, including wearing a hat ... and they were allowed to smoke in the office. A big difference from the current day where casual Fridays have become the norm and you can't smoke within a hundred feet of a public building.

Ricky - 2 years?

Ricky - 1 year?

Janet

Ricky 1 year

Linda
Kingswood-Oxford Yearbook photo 1976